Tabasco Films presents… “Invisible Until Suspicious”

“Invisible Until Suspicious” is a documentary about how Chicago citizens view police and how the police view them. The documentary expresses each viewpoint, what these victims have to live through, their struggles, and their insecurities towards police officers. It also portrays the lives of Chicago police, their struggles of serving citizens, and the insecurities they have towards violent people.

Our production team chose this topic because while walking our neighborhood, we found this topic had an affect on a lot of citizens. Many people felt strongly about the role police officers played in preventing gun violence. While countless others found it hard to believe that police even cared. Once our Cinematographer gave the Editor all the footage, interviews and B-Roll, it became a race against the clock to make it all look as professional as possible. The aspect we enjoyed most this summer was meeting new people, hearing their ideas, and traveling to different locations for interviews. We learned that a lot goes into producing a short documentary. It starts off with a topic but quickly develops into something much greater. The skills we obtained from this program are completely technological. We were continuously hands on with the camera equipment, and the editing software we used. We also gained communication skills when we were interviewing people. We had to learn to listen and interpret what they were saying.

Producer: Daniel Houston

Reporter: Matthias Hunter

Cinematographer: Mylan Ellison

Editor: Malachi Glenn-Johnson

Executive Producer: Brandon Johnson

Special thanks to all the interview subjects and organizations that contributed to this project!